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Original poster

dd's guniea pig just died

22 replies

liahgen · 30/12/2008 22:52

went to feed them this evening and one was just totally dead. He was fine when i gave them some greens this morning, went out to feed at 7pm ish and poor thing was cold and stiff already.

I've taken his mate out and he's in dd's room in a toy box with bedding. It was too dark and freezing to start taking poor deceases guniea out to bury so have left him in hutch till morning.

2 things?

do i need to clean the hutch in a certain way? will it be ok to put surviving guniea back?

Ig we get another pig will ours accept it? I don't want him to be lonely?

experts?

OP posts:

MatNanPlusAbroad · 30/12/2008 22:55

We had 2 sets of GP's 1st set - the survivor accepted a new pal, the 2nd set (all new gps) the survivor attacked the new one so we then had a single (survivor) and the new one who accepted a pal so we had 3 gps.

thumbwitch · 30/12/2008 22:56

for you.
How old was he - did he die of age?
Whenever I have had a g'pig die, I have always bleached out the cage but then I have plastic tray cages so easy to do. Don't know that it would work with wooden hutches so i suggest you use Milton's sterilising fluid instead to swab it down.
if your hutch was outdoors and is not well-protected from the cold, then either move it or wrap it in a blanket (or consider keeping your g'pig indoors until the weather improves) because 1 g'pig is more vulnerable to the cold than 2 (no huddle partner)

Boy g'pigs I don't know much about - I know the theory is that brothers get on the best, but I'm sure there are ways of introducing another male, especially if there are no girls involved.

Original poster

liahgen · 30/12/2008 22:59

no he was only about 18mths old, we had him since 10 days.

We do have the hutch wrapped in a doulble duvet and then tarpaulin but i do think it's been bloody freezing these past couple days hasn't it. I'll keep his bro indoors for a bit i think.

Will use the milton, just to be safe, no signs or being poorly before, eating and socialising well.

We'll lay him to rest tomorrow, poor little thing.

OP posts:

sandcastles · 30/12/2008 23:00

IMO, it is a myth that they get lonely. We have had many single GP & they always seemed OK! We would interact with it alot tho.

If you are planning on getting another, you need to be sure of the sex of the one you have.

I don't think you need to clean the cage out any differently than you owuld normally.

MrsDoylesMole · 30/12/2008 23:02

Sorry to hear that liaghen.

Original poster

liahgen · 30/12/2008 23:02

thanks sand. He was always with his bro, they were born together. We are sure he's a he, lol. Wouldn't mind lo's tbh, kids would love it, but how do you stop them breeding? are they like rabbits that reproduce at the drop of a hat?

OP posts:

MrsDoylesMole · 30/12/2008 23:02

liahgen

sandcastles · 30/12/2008 23:02

Males often do not take to a new comer well...the younger male usually always gets terratorial, which the elder one objects to.

Original poster

liahgen · 30/12/2008 23:04

well that's what i thought. My friend breeds them and has a lovely huge run, (she lives on a farm). Would it be kinder to give him to them so he could be with others?

OP posts:

Original poster

liahgen · 30/12/2008 23:04

that's where he originally came from. I do believe his parents are still there.

OP posts:

thumbwitch · 30/12/2008 23:04

sandcastles, I think you have the right idea if you are going to have a single g'pig - they need the interaction.
If they are garden g'pigs, not indoor ones, and don't interact with the family the whole time, they do get bored and lonely. (and cold!)

liahgen, good idea. Best of luck digging in the earth at the mo, and don't forget to put a brick or something on top of his grave - we always buried ours in shoeboxes and put a brick on the lid to stop later digging accidents and also to stop foxes getting at them.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 30/12/2008 23:05

if you bring him in make sure its to a cool room, they don't like huge temp variations. Its hard at this time of year

sandcastles · 30/12/2008 23:12

Well we had boys & girls for years who used to run around together but seemed uninterested in mating. We had some try but babies never materialised. I don't think they are as easily breed as rabbits, but I could be wrong.

We even had a male & female living together, but again...nothing.

We had a LO after buying 2 from a pet shop, they were both female so she must have been pregnant when we got her.

All three now live together and are either all female or just really stupid!

MatNanPlusAbroad · 30/12/2008 23:14

Liahgen could you take him back to his parents and let him have a run about and see if over a couple of days he pairs up with a new pal?

thumbwitch · 30/12/2008 23:16

it might be an idea to buy 2 more - when my first one died, I got 2 more from the rescue centre at the Cambridge Cavy Trust so had 3. All girls though - don't know how it would work with boys.

sandcastles · 30/12/2008 23:20

You know, I think he would be better with you, tbh. He knows you all now & letting him go elsewhere, he may not mix, may get picked on etc...I would be inclined to see how he goes at home. If he is really missing his buddy, you could think about introducing another one [which is what I would do instead of giving him away] if that doesn't work, could you have 2 cages close together so they can 'chat'? Mine used to make the most adorable noises at each other.

Also, it may be worth talking to the vet, before you bury him. You have no idea why he died & if [big if] he had a virus the other may be affected too. I do hope not, but you wouldn't want to suddenly lose #2!

Oh & symapthies! I lost my first GP in my mid 20's & it was not nice!

thatsnotmymonster · 30/12/2008 23:24

Just one LO sandcastles? That's unusual.

We always had GP's when we were little, they do mate a fair bit but not like rabbits.

Ours had a litter of 7 when we I was about 9 and I had to hand rear the runt of the litter who was only 3oz at birth and SO CUTE!

You have to watch with GP's though as they are prone to eating their litters- esp the fathers. You are meant to separate them if you know the female is pg. If you don't know you might get a nasty surprise one day and it's not something your dd's would like to find.

sandcastles · 30/12/2008 23:40

thatsnotmymonster, yep...just the one! I was expecting several more tbh!

When we informed the owner of the pet shop, he said he had a few new owners taking babies in from unexpected pregnancies, all small litters [2,3 etc]. We were the only ones who kept our baby [dd would never have let it go...neither would dh for that matter!]

He said that there was only 2 boys so the culprit could have been either. Randy buggers!

thatsnotmymonster · 30/12/2008 23:43

ah well, just goes to show! Baby GP's are very, very cute.

navyeyelasH · 31/12/2008 01:42

I swear I read a thread on here yesterday about dead GPing actually hibernating. Can you put it somewhere warm in case it's hibernating?

Or maybe the thread was about hamsters? Do GPigs hibernate?

Fingers crossed for you and DC

Joolyjoolyjoo · 31/12/2008 01:53

Sorry to hear about your pig . IME GP's are not always the hardiest of animals and can die quite unexpectedly. It doesn't sound like an infectious cause, as he was well prior- they can have heart problems etc that you would never know about, so don't give yourself a hard time.

Whether or not his oppo will accept another friend depends entirely on the nature of the GP- was the one who died the dominant one, or is the remaining one? I think they are possibly happiest in pairs/ groups, so might be worth a try.

GPs don't tend to hibernate- so pretty sure he would have gone to the big hutch in the sky You could get your vet to do a post-mortem, but they may well find nothing obvious. Hth

MeMySonAndI · 31/12/2008 01:59

I know of someone who binned several hamsters until one of the them came back to life... they were hibernating apparently.

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